South Chungcheong Province has set a goal of cutting both workplace accident victims and deaths by 50 percent within four years. The provincial government announced the target on October 19 at an occupational safety event in Yesan, where it signed an agreement with eight municipalities and 100 workplaces to expand preventive measures and strengthen safety practices.
The agreement brings together Cheonan, Asan, Seosan, Boryeong, Nonsan, Dangjin, Seocheon and Hongseong with participating employers and labor representatives. Its commitments include identifying workplace hazards, treating life and safety as priorities, building artificial intelligence-based occupational safety management systems, and providing consulting and equipment to smaller businesses.
- Participating municipalities
- Eight cities and counties
- Participating workplaces
- One hundred workplaces
- Implementation focus
- Prevention, hazard removal and support for smaller businesses
The signatories also agreed to support prevention-focused supervision, protect workers' safety rights, manage hazardous conditions and promote the right to stop work when danger is present. The province said these steps are intended to move safety policy beyond regulation alone by making employers and workers active participants in preventing accidents.
Preventive inspections begin next year
Beginning next year, provincial labor inspectors are expected to expand preventive guidance and inspections at small hazardous workplaces and construction sites. South Chungcheong also plans to use a Ministry of Employment and Labor support program to address gaps in serious-accident prevention, focusing on explosions, fires and falls during livestock-building roof improvement work.
Additional measures include broader safety consulting for small workplaces, equipment support during extreme heat and cold, and expanded rest facilities for workers in vulnerable conditions. The province also intends to use its locally operated occupational safety and health center to assist small businesses and vulnerable workers, while increasing the number of honorary industrial safety inspectors and publicizing workers' stop-work rights.
Safety is a value that can never be compromised and the beginning of respect for labor.
Provincial Governor Park Soo-hyun said about 50 workers each year have failed to return home because of industrial accidents in the province. He described safety as a non-negotiable value and urged employers to regard it as an investment rather than a cost. Progress will depend on whether the province converts the agreement into sustained inspections, hazard removal, support for smaller workplaces and measurable annual reductions in injuries and deaths.